It’s MARVELous!!
Have you seen Pental’s new Marvel Porcelain Tile? It absolutely marvelous and broadens interior design horizons for nearly seamless counter tops when the budget is too tight for solid slabs. It’s a beautiful porcelain tile with the look of marble and comes in honed and polished finishes.
I recently used the 30″ x 30″ Beige Mystery (which reminds me a lot of Crema Marfil marble) on a kitchen counter top in a modern home in Bend, Oregon and also used the Grey Stone Lappato on the kitchen counter top in a more traditional home. Both turned out beautifully and the builder of these two spec homes was very impressed to get an almost seamless counter top without splurging on solid slab.
In addition to 6 color options all in polished or honed finishes the Marvel line has a nice selection of other sizes including a 2” x 2” mosaic that you can use to complement your interior designs.
The great thing about the 30” x 30” is you only have a grout line every 2.5 feet the length of the counter and no grout lines the depth of the counter as the 30” x 30” covers a complete kitchen counter including the dropper for the front edge. Kitchen cabinets are slightly deeper than bathroom cabinets so a 24” x 24” will not cover the counter depth and you end up with a funky horizontal grout line at the back of your counter.
There are many manufacturers making larger format porcelain tile and I’ve seen sizes as large as 36” x 48”! Although I understand from some of the tile setters that I work with that these really large tiles may not be perfectly flat so they have to make adjustments in the thickness of their mud set or backer material to accommodate. (I was also told they had to buy new tile saws to work with the larger format tiles). If you are thinking of using a really large format tile, check with your builder or tile setter and get a sample of the product in advance. I have not heard of any issues with the 30” x 30” tiles.
I wonder how these large format tiles are affecting the solid slab industry…??? But I would guess not significantly as there are a lot of “grout haters” out there and there are also more and more options coming available in solid surfaces. It’s always great fun to see all these new products coming out and giving Interior Designers a whole new array of design options.
